Charlotte Mom's 'Fire Challenge' Assist for Son Gets Her Arrested

A North Carolina mom was arrested for allegedly assisting her Charlotte teenager in what social media calls the "fire challenge" in which people set themselves on fire and record the results.

Authorities charged Janie Lachelle Talley, 41, with contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile after the Department of Social Services was notified of the incident involving Talley's 16-year-old son, according to the Charlotte Observer.

Detectives with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police told the Observer that Talley "was present and aware of what her son (was) doing and facilitated the recording," They said her son is shown on a video pouring fingernail polish on himself July 29 and then setting himself on fire.

Authorities told the newspaper that others watching nearby helped put out the fire and the teen sustained minor burns to his chest and neck. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police told the newspaper that Facebook has started identifying and removing fire challenge videos from its sites.

"The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department discourages this activity due to the extreme danger it poses to everyone involved and takes all complaints seriously," the department said in a statement.

WDIV-TV in Detroit reported, though, the videos are still available on YouTube and Twitter, allowing potential copycats to view them.

"Unfortunately, you get people to view it, and then with the phenomenon of scale, somebody else wants to do it," child psychologist Harvey Rosenstock told WDIV-TV, adding that in the end, it's all about getting attention in social media. "They say, 'I can do what this guy can do and I can even up the ante.'"

Detroit-area fire investigator Michael Roarty told WDIV-TV said people are causing themselves serious harm with long-term implications with the stunt.

"There's an extreme risk," said Roarty. "When you pour an ignitable liquid accelerant on your body, and the key word is accelerant, that accelerant is there to accelerate the spread of the fire. When you light these vapors on fire, the surface of the vapors is somewhere about 800 degrees Fahrenheit. Your skin begins to burn very badly at like 135 degrees Fahrenheit."Urgent: Assess Your Heart Attack Risk in Minutes. Click Here.